Top 10 '24-hour' movies: 'Before Sunrise', '25th Hour', 'Phone Booth'

David Cronenberg's latest film Cosmopolis is released in UK cinemas this Friday, and centres on billionaire Eric Packer (Robert Pattinson) as his life gradually collapses over the course of a day in Manhattan.

This is the latest in a line of memorable, emotionally resonant films set within the constricted timeframe of a single 24-hour period, and Packer's the latest in a line of tortured male protagonists to lose his rag by the end of that time.

Digital Spy counts down ten of the most iconic movies that take place within the space of a single day.

Dog Day Afternoon (1975)Sidney Lumet's crime drama stars a post-Godfather Al Pacino as a first-time crook whose attempted bank robbery goes messily awry. Based on a real Brooklyn heist, the film's events all unfold during one swelteringly hot August day.

Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)As the title implies, this iconic comedy follows slacker Ferris (Matthew Broderick) as he skips school for a day. Helmer and scribe John Hughes produced more than a few high school classics, but this just might be his most beloved.

Do The Right Thing (1989)Replicating Dog Day Afternoon's use of simmering summer heat as a metaphor for building tension, Spike Lee's drama follows one eventful and ultimately tragic day in a Brooklyn neighbourhood.

Falling Down (1993)Before Cosmopolis's Eric, there was Falling Down's William. Michael Douglas stars as an ordinary, decent man who becomes increasingly unhinged as he journeys across Los Angeles in an effort to attend his daughter's birthday party.

Before Sunrise (1995)After a chance meeting on a train, a young man and woman (Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy) spend a single night together in Vienna before going their separate ways. Despite the finite timeframe, the pair were reunited in Before Sunset and a third installment will film this year.

Magnolia (1999)Paul Thomas Anderson's follow-up to Boogie Nights finds a collection of interconnected characters in Los Angeles – chief amongst them Tom Cruise, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Julianne Moore – searching for different types of meaning and redemption over the same single day.

Training Day (2001)Following a day in the life of two LAPD officers - one a rookie (Ethan Hawke), the other a veteran (Denzel Washington) - Antoine Fuqua's acclaimed cop drama earned both its leads an Oscar nomination.

Phone Booth (2002)Colin Farrell is held hostage inside a telephone booth by a sniper in this uniquely claustrophobic thriller. Producer Larry Cohen originally pitched the idea to Alfred Hitchcock in the 1960s, but nothing came to fruition and so it went on to became one of Joel Schumacher's few decent films.

25th Hour (2002)Spike Lee's second entry in this top ten list centres on a young drug dealer (Edward Norton) about to begin a seven-year jail term, who spends his final day of freedom re-evaluating his life and relationships.

A Single Man (2009)Following the sudden death of his partner, a college professor in 1960s Los Angeles (Colin Firth) plans to commit suicide. Tom Ford's directorial debut follows him throughout his final day, as he reminisces about his former life and spends time with both old friends and new acquaintances.